Effect of Gas Flow Rate on the Synthesis of Ybba2cu3o7-Δ

Abstract

In this work, a typical REBa2Cu3O7-δ (REBCO or RE123) superconductor of Yb123 was prepared via solid-state sintering in flowing oxygen and air atmospheres. The effect of gas flow rates, which ranged from 15 SCCM to 400 SCCM, on the synthesis of Yb123 was investigated. The results demonstrated that increasing the flow rate was beneficial for the synthesis of Yb123. More specifically, a gas flow rate of at least 200 SCCM was required to produce high phase purity of Yb123. This work also prepared Nd123, Sm123, Gd123, and Er123 as a comparison. It was revealed that the radius of RE3+ could also affect the formation of RE123, and the synthesis of RE123 phase with larger RE3+ was less sensitive to gas flow rate.

Keywords: high-temperature superconductors, Yb123, gas flow rate